The unique Crans-Montana stage will remain in the Giro’s history, and Thibaut Pinot will be remembered as its main protagonist. In a thirteenth stage reduced to just 75 kilometers due to weather conditions, the French climber put on a show from start to finish. From the bottom of the Croix de Cœur to the top of Crans-Montana. After joining the front with Bruno Armirail, the climber made countless efforts to seek this long-awaited victory. On the final climb, he eventually battled with two men, tried to attack them many times, but it did not prove enough. The decision was made in a sprint, and the man from Melisey had to “settle” for a bitter and frustrating second place. On the other hand, he took advantage of his superb ride to take back the best climber’s jersey and move up to tenth place overall.
Stage 13 of the Giro d’Italia has been talked about for a few weeks, but even more in the last few days, and especially in the last twenty-four hours. At first, it was deprived of the summit of the Col du Grand Saint-Bernard because of the snow, and the riders were therefore supposed to cross the tunnel linking Italy to Switzerland. Eventually, the stage was quite simply shortened by 125 kilometres. The rain and cold expected in the first hours of racing, in particular 2000 metres above sea level, led riders and organizers to agree on a new route. After morning meetings on Friday, it was therefore decided that the peloton would compete in the last 75 kilometres and therefore ride the last two climbs in Swiss territory. “It was a very special stage”, confirmed Sébastien Joly. “Thibaut would have liked to ride the whole stage, but during the transfer, we felt that the closer we approached the new start, the more energy he had. He needed to go racing.” The official and final start of the stage was given around 3 p.m., in Le Châble, at the bottom of the Croix de Cœur (15.5 km at 8.6%). It then only took a few hundreds of metres to see Thibaut Pinot hit the front, along Bruno Armirail. “When I saw that Ineos wanted to let the breakaway go and that no one was moving, I told myself that it was not possible”, he said. “I couldn’t wait any longer. I’ve been chomping at the bit for 15 days, I’ve been sick, and I finally had good legs. I said to Bruno “let’s go, and we’ll see how it is at the top”. I didn’t care about losing everything in GC, I wanted the stage win. I only did whatever I wanted, but I want to enjoy it”.
“I had to force the hand of destiny a bit”, Thibaut Pinot
After an unsuccessful first attempt, the rider from Melisey finally managed to get out with the French time trial champion and thus entered a seven-man breakaway. In the lead, they found themselves with Derek Gee, Matthew Riccitello (Israel-Premier Tech), Einer Rubio (Movistar), Jefferson Alexander Cepeda (EF Education Easy-Post) as well as Valentin Paret-Peintre (AG2R Citroën). Bruno Armirail was distanced after a few big turns, then Thibaut Pinot took control on the second part of the climb and the gap reached two minutes on a small bunch. He obviously took advantage of being at the front to grab the maximum points at the summit of the Croix de Cœur. “I didn’t want to have any regrets today”, confided Thibaut again. “It was a short but very very hard stage. These are the stages that I like, where there isn’t much thinking. It’s flat out from start to finish, and I had to force the hand of destiny a bit today, especially on the first climb to gain time. I couldn’t afford to ride easy”. However, it was also in the descent that the breakaway, reduced to five men, increased its lead. Starting the twenty-kilometre valley leading to the bottom of Crans-Montana, Thibaut Pinot enjoyed a margin of four minutes at the head of the race. However, the collaboration started to get worse within the front group. “It made us lose almost a minute”, added Thibaut. “We really had a big thorn in our side.”
With more than thirty kilometres to go, some chose to no longer work in the breakaway, but Thibaut Pinot still did all he could to make the group progress. Eventually, the gap was slightly less than three minutes before the last thirteen kilometres averaging 7% leading to the summit of Crans-Montana. The Groupama-FDJ rider launched his first attack quite early, then made a second one, a third one, a fourth one and a fifth one. However, Alexander Cepeda and Einer Rubio, who previously were reluctant to collaborate, unfortunately managed to come back. “It’s not a particularly hard climb when you’re in the wheels, in the slipstream, and this wasn’t just anybody I was fighting against”, testified Thibaut. “I had already made a lot of effort in the previous pass. It’s a nice climb but it’s really difficult to drop guys on 7% slopes, especially when they let you do all the work. It was difficult to manage and there was nothing else to do. If I don’t pull, we get caught by the pink jersey group and we don’t achieve anything”. Despite his countless efforts, and a real desire to go alone, the former winner of Il Lombardia could not get rid of the two South American riders, who were determined to leave all the responsibility to him. After responding to Cepeda’s only counter-offensive four kilometres from the finish, Thibaut Pinot tried once again, but the trio was back together for the last two, less difficult kilometres.
“I left my guts on the road”, Thibaut Pinot
A three-man sprint therefore occurred, and if the French rider managed to follow Cepeda’s acceleration, he had to let Einer Rubio go in the last 200 meters. A very frustrating second place therefore concluded a spectacular day from him. “I was full of zeal throughout the climb”, added Thibaut, naturally disappointed. “Unfortunately, I may have paid for my efforts in the sprint. I’m hugely disappointed. It’s a hard blow. I really wanted to win, that’s the big goal of my Giro. I’m close, but I can’t have any regrets. I gave everything today, I left my guts on the road. I am often too generous, and they only took advantage of it. I hope that they will at least thank me for having had the opportunity to fight for victory…” On Friday, in addition to almost scoring his seventh victory on a Grand Tour, Thibaut Pinot took back the blue jersey and gained five places in the general classification to enter the top-10 (10th). He is now 3’13 behind the pink jersey Geraint Thomas. “The blue jersey is not the main goal for the time being”, said Sébastien. “What we really want is a stage victory and to move up in the general classification. The jersey is the third objective, but considering how he’s doing at the moment, I think Thibaut is capable of doing everything”. “I hope there will be other opportunities, but the mountain is only beginning and I am looking forward to the third week”, added Thibaut. “In eight days, I leave the Giro forever, so it would be wonderful to raise my arms”.
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